The Niger at Ségou
This is a prosperous town, where a good deal of tobacco and cotton are grown. Near Ségou we encountered the worst sandbanks of the voyage. In places the channel was not eighteen inches deep, and we had considerable difficulty in passing.
After the departure of the train an adjournment was made to the hotel, where I met the Resident of Koulikoro and his wife. A tennis-court had been made in the gardens, and it was decided to play. I don’t think I have ever played the game under such strange conditions as I have here. The net was locally made out of native fishing-nets, the ground was the flattest piece of rock we could find, with the court-lines marked out in white chalk, while the balls were of ordinary india-rubber, and no one possessed tennis-shoes. The racquets were, or rather had once been, tennis-bats, and were the only part of our equipment resembling the real article. However, it was an amusing game, causing almost as much merriment to the players as it did to the spectators. After tennis we all assembled at little tables in front of the hotel, as the custom is, to take an apéritif. Besides myself there were only three men staying at the hotel; these were permanent residents, who were employed in the Government Offices and found it more convenient to live at the hotel than to have a separate establishment in the town.
As I previously mentioned, the terminus of the railway and the head-quarters of the Niger Navigation Service are here, consequently there is a large number of European officials employed at Koulikoro. The navigation service is entirely controlled by the Government. There are several stern-wheelers, small steam-launches, steel canoes and barges in the fleet. These vary considerably in size and comfort. The depth of the Niger alters greatly according to the season of the year. At certain times during the dry season there is so little water in parts of the Upper Niger that navigation even by shallow-draught barges is exceedingly difficult.
In the old days, when there was no craft on the river bigger than the native canoe, journeys were long and tedious. From Koulikoro to Timbuctu, even with relays of canoemen at frequent intervals, it was impossible to cover the distance in less than three weeks, but now a very different state of affairs exists, and the journey can be done on the average in twelve days. Since the railway has reached Koulikoro repairing-shops and a dock have been made, and the fleet of steaming-vessels has been greatly augmented at this port of the Niger.
One of my companions at dinner was a platelayer in charge of a section of the line between Koulikoro and Bamako. As I happened to mention to him that I should much like to see the rapids on the Niger below Bamako, of which I had often heard, he very kindly offered to take me next morning by trolly to a station within easy walk of some of the rapids. I was delighted at the offer, which I gladly accepted.
Next morning, as the sun was rising, I met my friend at the station, where he had his trolly ready. Our destination was a little place called Kiénéfala, about twenty miles down the line. It was very pleasant in the early morning air as we glided swiftly along, running by our own momentum easily down the declines, while our trolly boys, four stalwart Bambaras, pushed us up the inclines. There is something very exhilarating in the motion of a trolly. The sensation is that of being in a train, but with this advantage, that you have the benefit of being in the open air instead of being shut into a hot compartment. As we rattled merrily along we caught glimpses of bushfowl and guinea-fowl, who, scared by our approach, scuttled into the bush as we bore down upon them. Occasionally a duiker, or bushbuck, would be seen in the distance, terrified at the appearance of this strange, swift-moving object which invaded the privacy of their sylvan haunts. Whole families of monkeys were frequently to be seen gambolling on the track, along which they hurried as we made our appearance, only finally to dive into the bush as they realized the pursuing demon was overtaking them. Unfortunately I was never able to get close enough to these animals for a successful photograph.
In a little over two hours we arrived at the station, where we dismounted from the trolly. Half an hour’s walk brought us to the Niger and we were close to the rapids. There are two sets of rapids which interrupt the navigation between Bamako and Koulikoro. About eight miles below the former town are the rapids of Sotuba, and, below them again, the rapids of Kiénéfala, which we were now visiting. For many miles this section of the river is very rocky and, even for canoes, navigation is difficult. The water was low here and we were able to clamber over rocky boulders into the middle of the stream, from whence we got a capital view of the rapids. As we gazed up-stream we could see that the river was split into three channels, separated from each other by huge fragments of rock. Immediately in front of us was the centre channel. On each side of this channel was a rocky wall towering up to a height of thirty feet above our heads. Some two hundred yards away the water came swirling along in a seething torrent, until it suddenly reached the rugged precipice down which it fell in headlong impetuosity. It looked as if no craft could live in that pitiless, rushing stream, yet one or two Frenchmen have successfully descended those rapids.
At the bottom the water flows swiftly through a channel, said to be very deep, and then on for a couple of miles till the rocks begin to disappear and the three separated portions of the river reunite. The water below the rapids is of the most beautiful deep blue colour—a blue I have never seen in any other river, but strongly resembling the blue one sees in the Mediterranean. I could have stayed for hours watching this splendid sight; the grandeur of the rapids, the roar of the waters and the beauty of the blue stream at our feet carried me away from the commonplace doings of the world. It was one of those moments, which come to us all at times, when one feels mentally and physically in touch with nature.
My companion suddenly awoke me from my reverie, pointing to the sun, which was now high up in the sky. We had to get back quickly as the down train was due in less than two hours. After a little refreshment at the platelayer’s house near the station we mounted our trolly once more and proceeded on the homeward trip. At a little village called Madambougou, we halted to examine the graves of some Frenchmen who had been buried there. These men were members of the expedition which descended the Niger in 1884 under Lieutenant Hourst, the well-known explorer. Hourst was a naval officer who organized a small fleet of canoes for this expedition, and starting from Bamako with a few European companions and a following of native canoemen successfully descended the Rapids of Sotuba and Kiénéfala. After descending the Kiénéfala Rapids he made a camp near Madambougou, and, while there repairing damages to his canoes, he lost two or three white men from sickness, while others were unfortunately killed in a canoe accident. For many years the whereabouts of these graves could not be discovered, until at last, when the bush was being cut down in connection with some work on the railway line, the tombstones of the victims of the Hourst Expedition were disclosed. The little graveyard has now been cleared and is kept in good order.